By Camilla Sarra. Cober image by I’M Firenze Digest
What makes a garment truly last: the quality of its fabric, the story it carries, or the way we learn to look at it? For Irene Libbi, Raw Material Fabric Specialist at Balenciaga, circular fashion begins precisely with this shift in perspective: a piece can move through different lives, change hands and gain new material and emotional value. Buying less and better becomes a more conscious choice, made of fabrics to touch, codes to recognize and desires to separate from impulses. This vision is behind Creator Closet Sale, taking place on June 6, 2026 at The Hoxton Hotel in Florence, where 12 content creators will sell a selection from their own wardrobes and meet their community in person, turning second hand into a passage of stories, imagery and identity.
Circularity Starts With the Way You Look at a Garment
How does your work, born from the encounter between image and circularity, translate into practice?
For me, circularity is also about the way we learn to look at a garment. Working across fashion, image and digital content, I realized that today people are looking for something with heritage, value and meaning, whether material or immaterial. My work begins exactly there: by creating a narrative around clothes and showing that they can continue to live, change hands and transform without losing value, actually gaining new value along the way.
How to Tell If a Trend Is Worth Buying Before You Spend Anything
How do you recognize, from the fashion shows you analyze on Instagram, the signals that really matter and turn them into more thoughtful purchasing choices?
I always try to distinguish trend from language. Trends move quickly, while certain signals reveal deeper cultural shifts or true fashion legacies. The midi skirts in organza, crêpe muslin or cotton muslin that we see returning today, for example, were already present on Prada’s 1996 runways. This shows that some elements are so beautiful they become almost permanent. When you study, observe and learn to recognize these codes, you understand what is worth buying and what is not. That is where conscious purchasing begins: from the meeting of fashion history, durability, adaptability over time and identity.
The Fabric Test: Natural Fibers, Emotional Value and What Makes a Garment Last
What does buying less and better mean to you, especially when it comes to the quality of a garment?
Buying less and better means slowing down. It means truly observing a garment before buying it, touching the fabrics, understanding how a material falls, asking yourself whether that dress really represents you or whether you are simply following a momentary impulse. Quality is fundamental: choosing natural fibers and avoiding fully synthetic fabrics is always my first piece of advice. But quality also has an emotional side. A good garment is one you still want to wear years later, because it makes you feel good, confident and authentic. It is the piece that stays in your wardrobe and that you know you will keep wearing forever. My hope is that we buy more and more clothes capable of giving us that priceless feeling.
What Working at Balenciaga Teaches You About Luxury Nobody Talks About
How much has your experience in raw material and fabric research for luxury brands changed the way you read a garment, from matter to style?
A lot. It taught me that true luxury is often not immediately visible. It lies in the hand of a fabric, in the internal construction of a garment, in the way a material reacts to light or to the movement of the body. After working in fabric research, I began to look at clothes in a completely different way: as the result of a process made of research, technique and sensitivity.
Creator Closet Sale: When the People You Follow Open Their Wardrobes
What is Creator Closet Sale, and what did you want to create by bringing clothes out of wardrobes and into a community?
Creator Closet Sale was born from the desire to create something that Florence was still missing, or at least something that had never been structured in this way: an event able to bring together fashion, community, a digital world becoming real, and circularity in a spontaneous and contemporary way. I wanted to create a moment of encounter between content creators and their communities. Bringing clothes out of the creators’ wardrobes means allowing those pieces to live again and allowing people to meet through them. For me, vintage is a passage of stories.
Why Buying a Creator’s Old Jacket Is More Than Just a Purchase
Who are the girls you selected and why did you choose them? What value does it have to buy a piece already lived in by someone the public follows and recognizes?
I chose a very diverse group of girls, different in aesthetics, style and community, but united by an authentic relationship with their audience. I wanted to create a mix of different personalities. I believe that buying a garment that belonged to someone you follow has a special value, because you are not only buying a piece of clothing, but also a part of that person’s imagery and world. It is almost a cultural passage, as well as an aesthetic one.
Two Fashion Designers, One Magazine, One Vintage Shop: The Only List That Matters
If you had to give three quick names, what would they be: your favorite designer, the website where you look for inspiration and the coolest shop in Florence?
Jonathan Anderson and Matthieu Blazy. System Magazine. Gerard 1969 and Desii Vintage.
